Illness
by pamala77
Summary: Bella wakes up one morning and realizes she has the flu. Edward is very worried, remembering his own experiance with the spanish flu, but pushes his feelings aside to take care of Bella. Takes place between New Moon and Eclipse.


Illness

When I woke that morning I realized that I had slept through the night without a dream, or without one I could recall at least. Yet my sleep was anything but peaceful, I had tossed and turned and never quite got comfortable enough. I opened my eyes and stared into the the bright, golden eyes that I loved to wake up to. They were my reason to wake, my only true desire to see every day. But these eyes were different, more stressed and worried than I had remembered. Edward put his hand on my cheek and the worry on his face became more pronounced. I immediately noticed that his hand felt much colder than usual on my skin. My senses began to start up and I found that he wasn't colder, but I was much hotter. I reached for the covers to try and pull them off, but there were none on me. I stared at Edward with just as much curiosity and worry as he had. Was something wrong? He put the back of his hand lightly against my forehead and grinned halfheartedly. My eyebrows furrowed.

"What is it?" I asked in a raspy and broken voice. But that answered my question before he could. I could feel my throat aching and swollen, my nose clogged and stuffy. The heat of my body, feverish. I closed my eyes and answered my own question aloud.

"I have the flu." I looked back at Edward and saw the worry on his face. I was immediately reminded of the Spanish flu that had nearly taken his life almost a hundred years ago and wished I had rephrased my words. "Don't worry," I said lifting my hand to stroke his beautiful, perfect face. "I'll be fine. I just need some medicine and rest. No need to worry." I smiled repressing a cough and tried to look well, but to no avail. My hidden cough escaped and couldn't be stopped. My sore throat rasped and stung, but finally settled. Edward just stared at me with worried eyes and stroked my face. His cold hands felt so great on my burning hot skin. It was a great feeling. Bur then he was gone. He disappeared from my room and I felt alone. Th feeling didn't last and I realized why he had left. I choked out another cough just as Charlie peeked his head through the door. I looked up and he walked in.

"Hey Bells, you don't sound so good. You ok?" He put a cold hand to my forehead and his eyebrows crinkled together.

"No dad," I rasped. "I think I have the flu. It's been going around the school, I think I got it from Jessica." I paused to cough again and let my head droop back to the pillow. He sighed and sat down next to me, pulling the unwanted covers over me.

"I'll stay home and take care of you. Anything you need just holler and I'll get it." I shook my head. But quickly stopped when my head began to throb and I could feel my pulse through my temples. I answered anyways.

'No dad. Go to work I'll be fine here. It's Saturday, I stay home alone all the time on Saturdays and I doubt I will be eating anything anytime soon." I knew from past experiences that eating anything solid when I was this sick was the worst thing to do. I tried to look as well as possible for him and smiled. "I'll be fine. Just go to work and don't think about it. Besides it probably the 24 hour thing. I'll be fine by tomorrow." He sighed and looked at me intently.

"Are you sure you'll be ok by yourself?"

"Yes, I'll be fine dad." He stood and laid something on my bedside table.

"You call if you need anything, got it?"

"Ok dad." I said turning to look at the cell phone. He very rarely let me borrow it, but since I knew the station number I guess he was ok with leaving it here. He nodded and leaned over to kiss me on the head and then headed for the door.

"I'm gonna bring up some Tylenol and water for you." I smiled and he walked out the door and down the stairs. I turned to my side and without surprise found Edward lying next to me, his face still racked with worry. I cleared my throat a little and started to stroke his face again.

"I'm going to be fine. Stop worrying." I could tell my voice wasn't helping my cause.

"I just don't like seeing you like this." He said with a whisper. His golden bell voice was something I had missed this morning. "You're so much weaker and delicate, like a wilting flower." I stopped stroking his face and waited until we were staring eye to eye.

"I am fine. I'll better by tomorrow. Besides you went to Medical school, you should know that I'll be fine." He half smiled at that and stroked my face once more with his icy hand. I smiled widely. "That feels so good." I sighed contently and tried to let my body relax, but then he was gone again. I almost grunted as Charlie walked in with my pills and water.

"Here you go Bells," he set the medicine on my table and stood strait to face me. "call if you need anything. I'll be home at five if they don't need me, maybe sooner." I rolled my eyes and he left, closing the door behind him. I closed my eyes and listened for the cruiser to drive off down the highway, smiling as it did so.

I only opened my eyes when a cold hand graced my burning hot arm, sending welcomed shivers up my spine. I sniffled my stuffy nose and squinted my face before letting out a quiet little sneeze. My head swirled for a moment, but it wasn't long before the room stopped spinning. Edward stiffened next to me and I sighed in annoyance. I knew he was just worried, but he had no reason to be. It's not like I got Polio or salmonella, it was just a 24 hour flu. I was getting sick of him worrying over me with the little things. I turned to him and held up one finger before he could say anything. I had never really tried to set any lines or boundaries, that was his job, but I decided being strict was the best thing to get him to stop worrying about this.

"I am going to be fine." I said trying to cover up my horse voice as best I could. "I was worse off in Phoenix at the hospital and you weren't this freaked out about me then. It's just the flu, I will be fine by tomorrow. Just relax, and enjoy the fact that Charlie is going to be gone all day and we can be alone. No vampires attacking. No disasters waiting to happen. And I can't fall over anything if I can't get out of bed all day. There is nothing for you to worry about. So just relax, for me." I smiled and put my hot hand on his icy face. He smiled my favorite crooked smile and patted my hand.

"Alright I wont worry about you too much. Just the right amount, like any other person would." I rolled my eyes and he chuckled a bit, encircling his arms around me lightly and pulling me close to his frozen chest. I sucked in a quick breath as another shiver raced up my body. He was officially my ice pack for the day. He leaned close to my cheek and whispered in my ear. His cool breath felt just as calming as his skin.

"Get some rest. I wont leave you." Then he began to hum my lullaby and I slowly fell asleep in his arms. Just the way I did every night, only this was more calming than usual and I normally was asleep before he could get halfway through with the melody. It was nice to hear his perfect, velvet voice sing on longer than usual, but was weak and unable to remain conscious to hear the end of it. I drifted into my sleepy dark hole and continued where I felt off.

I woke unexpectedly and dazed breathing fast, like I had been running. I was sweating and unbearably hot. my nose was to clogged to breath through and my throat rasped when I breathed in and out. I struggled to sit up and looked around the room stopping at the window. It was dark outside and Edward was gone. He had probably gone to check in with Carlisle and the others. I turned back and reached for my glass of water. Empty. I had to find something to cool me down. I made the decision to get out of bed and get a drink from the kitchen. Moving at snail-like speed I managed to lurch out of bed and to my feet without falling. I walked carefully down the stairs and made it to the kitchen without falling over, an accomplishment even when I wasn't dizzy and weak. I rummaged through the fridge and found some orange juice. I was able to get some into a glass without making a mess and went to sit on the couch next to the air conditioner. I just couldn't get cooled down. I lied down, set my glass on the coffee table and tried to drift back to sleep. Something much harder to do than I expected. I was so tired, but I couldn't get to sleep. I was weak, sore, and couldn't breath right. Nothing was comfortable to me. None the less I closed my eyes and tried to rest. I only opened them when I realized I wasn't on the couch any more. I looked up into Edward's loving eyes and smiled, snuggling into his cold chest.

"I got hot and needed a drink." I mumbled.

He carried me up to my room without a word and set me on the bed so lightly that I doubt I would have known I had left his arms, if not for the fact that my bed was still hot and muggy. He disappeared out my door and returned not a second later with my juice in one hand and something in the other. He handed me the glass and the two, small white pills from his other hand. I looked up at him questioningly, though I guessed it was Carlisle.

"Carlisle said these would help with the fever and aching." He looked at me hopefully, like he was persuading me to take the pills. I smiled and downed the two capsules with the rest of my juice.

"Well, tell Carlisle thank you. I just hope this works. I can't even get to sleep I'm so hot." Edward laid down next to me and pulled me next to him. I immediately started to cool down and felt so much better. My heart even calmed down, which was odd since it usually sped up when he did that. He noticed and rested his head on my neck, listening. I looked at me and smiled.

"Just when I was beginning to understand your reactions, you go and switch everything around."

"Don't worry everything will be back to normal soon." I smiled and he pressed his cold hard lips tenderly to my forehead. I almost worried that it would burn him and wondered how it felt to him. Being around me like this. Was I hurting him?

"Does this bother you?" I asked warily. He cocked his head to look at me and crinkled his brows together.

"Does what bother me?"

"Me, and this fever. Does it burn you at all or make you uncomfortable?" He thought for a moment trying to put his words together.

"It's no more than usual. Any time I touch you it's like a warm spark running through me, but in a good way. It makes me feel, human again. So no, it doesn't make me uncomfortable in that way, but it does make me worry a little. I'm so attune to your regular temperature that it is unsettling for me mentally, not physically." He cupped my face in his cool hands. "I just want you to be well and better. You were fragile before and now I'm almost scared to even touch you. I wouldn't if it didn't bring you some comfort." I smiled and put my hand on his arm. I kind of like the way he felt to me. How he relaxed me instead of making my muscles tense. It was nice to be comforted by him like this.

I sat up on my elbow in time for a round of sneezes that still failed to clear my nose of its annoying gunk. Edward handed me a few tissues and I blew my nose with a muffled trumpeting sound. Well that did some of it. I tossed the tissues into the bin next to my bed and lied back down on the bed, hoping my head would stop spinning if I was still. When I got my head together I realized we hadn't had our usual question and answer in the past two days. I looked over to the clock, which read 11:52 PM, and sighed.

"So who's night is it?" I asked closing my eyes. I didn't need to see to listen to the conversation.

"What do you mean?"

"Who's night is it to ask the questions?" He chuckled a bit and then pulled some hair out of my face.

"No questions. Just rest."

"I've been resting all day long. I'm not tired." I lied. Though it was true I would never get to sleep any time soon.

"Alright then. It's your night." I thought for a moment.

"So is there really only one way to kill a vampire?" He stiffened then relaxed.

"As far as I know of. Only the trash and burn method seems to work to any effect."

"How did all those rumors about the garlic and wooden stakes start then?" He chuckled.

"Other vampires made that up to make the public think they were safe and to prevent panic. They're easier to catch when they think we will run from something as easy to come by as garlic." He studied my face making sure he wasn't scaring me, but I was fine. These things had stopped bothering me after a while. I nodded and thought for a moment about my next question. But I was too exhausted to make my mind work right. Edward noticed my frustration and put a hand to my cheek ever so gently.

"You can ask me tomorrow. Just try to rest, please. I promise I wont leave for the rest of the night." He kissed my cheek lightly and I blushed a bit. Though I wasn't sure if he noticed since my face was already flushed from the fever. I smiled and tried to quiet my mind long enough to rest. His amazingly careful hands moved slowly up and down my arm, cooling it perfectly, almost numbing the ache. I was glad he was there, it was much easier to sleep when he could keep me cool and at ease. I began to drift back into my black sleep when I heard him begin to hum my lullaby. My black sleep turned to color and I began to dream. Nothing that I hadn't seen before, but this was a good dream. Just Edward and I, in his meadow. The sun peaked over the trees and both of our skin glinted in the light. We were together, and something told me that this was more so the future than a dream. I would have to ask Alice if she had seen something similar. In the mean time I was sound asleep in Edward's arms and enjoying every minute of it.


End file.
